Random Magic Trivia
In the spirit of what this day is... Random Magic Day I present you with something very neat. Here is some interesting Random Magic Trivia!
* The name of the artist, Rasa Oddvilla, is an anagram for Salvador DalÃ.
* The Floating City can be considered to be allegorical.
* Only 2000 copies of the first edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland were printed, then discarded as waste paper.
* “Two fathoms” refers to Mark Twain.
* Anagrammatic homage to Douglas Adams in -- Ch. 42, of course.
* Ergot-tainted rye can cause hallucinations. Historians suggest that ergot-tainted rye was the spur for the Salem Witch Trials in 1692.
* Guédé is a voodoo entity; he guards the gates of the cemetery, and is privy to all the secrets of the dead. He's also known as Baron Samedi. Although he is a much-feared entity, he has a wicked sense of humor. He is fond of children, and will sometimes intervene to spare the life of a dying child.
* The invention of the word game of "doublets" is attributed to Lewis Carroll.
* Hypatia of Alexandria was a mathematician and the victim of a political assassination -- she was torn to pieces by a mob in 415A.D.
* Professor Literati's eyes are the color of absinthe, a drink which was popular with artists, writers and poets in the 19th century. Absinthe is also referred to by the moniker "The Green Fairy."
* Gone is the feline retort to the paradox of Schrödinger's Cat. He's rumored to be related to the Cheshire Cat, but we can find no definitive proof.
* The nickname "Wiggy" refers both to Beethoven and to Ludwig II of Bavaria, a/k/a the Swan King, the Dream King, and, natch, the Mad King of Bavaria.
* Mort = la mort (death, Fr.)
* Nyx is the goddess of night.
* Charon is the ferryman of the dead. The ancient Greeks buried loved ones with a silver coin under their tongues for Charon, to ensure safe passage.
* Moirtha the cook (one of the Wyrd sisters, related to the Norns) is one of the Moirai.
* Nevermore is named for the well-known poem, "The Raven," by Edgar Allen Poe.
* The book Winnie and Henry read in the library is Der Struwwelpeter, a ghastly/funny children's book of cautionary tales published in 1845. Mark Twain translated the book into English in 1891.
* The woman in the Garden of the Nine Muses is actually a tarot card representing hidden knowledge.
